Historic firehouse in Hanford demolished a day ahead of schedule

UPDATE: Feb. 13, 2018: A landmark in Hanford was demolished a day ahead of it's scheduled date.

The Hanford City Manager said demolition of the old firehouse in Downtown Hanford would start Wednesday. The City Councilwoman said they were going to have coffee Tuesday morning and let people go through the station one last time.

Residents have been calling FOX26 News to report that demolition started Tuesday morning rather than Wednesday.

One viewer told FOX26 News that one of the workers said they were going to get as much as possible done on Tuesday, starting from back to front and finish the front demolition on Wednesday.

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A landmark in Hanford is only two days away from being demolished. The old firehouse has been a part of Downtown Hanford since the 1930's. Wednesday it has a date with the wrecking ball.

The firehouse has been unoccupied since 1990. Since then it's been used for storing vehicles.

The public works director says in 2015 a study was done to see what it would take to rehab the building. The price tag was nearly $2.2 million dollars. It was being considered as a teen recreation center then in late December the city council voted to tear it down.

Mark Cole says it's a big mistake. "It's one of our historic buildings in town. It's a beautiful art deco firehouse and I'm tired of seeing the city buildings that we love being torn down."

Over the weekend a movement to save the building staged a rally in front of the firehouse. Supporters like Deolinda Rhoads says the council moved too quickly to demolish the firehouse. "We had no idea that it was even on the chopping block. I didn't know about it until it was already a done deal."

Diane Sharp was just elected to the city council. The first fire chief at the old station was her great Grandfather. "I don't want to be critical of the people that voted to tear it down at the same time I really support the feelings and emotions behind the people that want to save it."

The clock is ticking and optimism isn't high. "Well I just don't want it to get torn down and I didn't do anything to try and save it."

Wednesday barring a last minute stay, a heavy piece of equipment already sitting on the property will begin erasing part of Hanford's past.